Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Did you make it to the stage during the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival last week? For those that didn't here are a few snapshots of Saturday's line up. Our very own stars Mike and Val James opened the show (well.... they did for me anyway), followed by the comedic antics of the Whateverly Brothers and then a fab performance by Tom Lewis.

By far the best moment of the afternoon had to be when the Whateverly Brothers began singing Tom's song "Sailor's Prayer", only to have Tom at that very moment appear by the side of the stage!

It's rumored that a certain well known pirate was on stage Friday and Sunday too, but he managed to evade my camera.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Welcome back Tugboat Bromberg, who returns to lead our October Sing Shanties Song Circle. Our new songbook Sing Shanties & Songs About the Sea is available through October 4 at the NW Maritime Center Chandlery and the evening of our October Song Circle (cash/check only) at a special 15% discount to shanty enthusiasts. So don't miss this opportunity to purchase a songbook for yourself at our introductory price. We do have songbooks to loan out during our shanty sings as well. We want everyone to be able to sing from our songbook - and all be on the same page, thanks to the grant we received from the Friends of the Arts. Take a look inside. Enter our contest to win a songbook!

Please print and share this flyer and link with others you suspect might be or have the potential of becoming a shanty enthusiast too!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Well said! Thank you to Helen Gilbert for sharing this lovely explanation by Brian Eno of why we need, should and love to gather to sing together. For the full NPR This I Believe essay by British musician Brian Eno, The Key to a Long Life, click here.

"I believe in singing. I believe in singing together.

A few years ago a friend and I realized that we both loved singing but didn't do much of it. So we started a weekly a capella group with just four members. After a year we started inviting other people to join. We didn't insist on musical experience — in fact some of our members had never sung before. Now the group has ballooned to around 15 or 20 people.

I believe that singing is the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament, increased intelligence, new friends, super self-confidence, heightened sexual attractiveness and a better sense of humor. A recent long-term study conducted in Scandinavia sought to discover which activities related to a healthy and happy later life. Three stood out: camping, dancing and singing.

Well, there are physiological benefits, obviously: You use your lungs in a way that you probably don't for the rest of your day, breathing deeply and openly. And there are psychological benefits, too: Singing aloud leaves you with a sense of levity and contentedness. And then there are what I would call "civilizational benefits." When you sing with a group of people, you learn how to subsume yourself into a group consciousness becausea capella singing is all about the immersion of the self into the community. That's one of the great feelings — to stop being me for a little while and to become us. That way lies empathy, the great social virtue...." - Brian Eno, NPR This I Believe

We thought you might like to take a look inside our 6"x9" spiral-bound Sing Shanties songbook to check out the style and format of the book and lyrics. You are viewing pages 18 A Note about Song Formats and 19 the maritime song According to the Acts.

Our Sing Shanties & Songs About the Sea songbook is 141 pages, which includes tributes to Port Townsend shantyman Stephen Gottleib Lewis (1941-2011), an alphabetical list of lyrics, a familiar verse index and glossary. Contributing writers include: Jake Beattie, Mike James Phimster, Wayne Palsson, Vern Olsen and Capt. Norm Stevens. Among the traditional shanties and maritime songs there are a few contemporary songs included by permission from Tom Lewis, Matthew Moeller, Vern Olsen, David Lovine and Gordon Bok.

Our Sing Shanties songbook is Wire-O bound. The cover is Cougar Natural 80# paper and the text and lyrics are printed on Cougar Natural 60# paper.

Songbooks are available at the Northwest Maritime Center Chandlery at a 15% discount through October 4. You can order online by emailing us at singshanties (at) gmail (dot) com. Retails for $11.95, plus shipping and handling. We will also honor 15% discount via email order.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Our new 141 page Sing Shanties & Songs About the Sea songbook of sea shanties and maritime song lyrics is currently available at the Northwest Maritime Center Chandlery, Crossroads Music, the Jefferson County Historical Society, Wandering Angus Celtic Traders and the Mad Hatter & Co. The Chandlery is offering an extended Wooden Boat Festival discount of 15% through October 4, as well as songbooks being available with the same discount at our October 4th song circle at 6:00 p.m. or emailing us at singshanties (at) gmail (dot) com (cash or check only).

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Reminder - no Sing Shanties song circle tonight at the Maritime Center as is usually scheduled on the first Thursday of the month, during the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. Every years there are two shanty sings during the Wooden Boat Festival hosted by shantyman Wayne Palsson from Northwest Seaport. We encourage all shanty enthusiasts to support and attend one or both of these free, family-friendly song circles. Both sings are held in the Marina Room at Port Hudson Marina.

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Sing Shanties Song Circle is a free, family-friendly community gathering that meets to revive and keep alive the maritime tradition of singin' sea shanties and songs about the sea. We meet the second Wednesday of each month. Check out our Song Circle Calendar for dates and locations.